Hans Ledwinka

1936

Introduction:

Both Hitler and Porsche were influenced by the automobiles produced by the company Tatras, whose chief designer was Hans Ledwinka. Hitler was a keen automotive enthusiast, who had ridden in Tatras during political tours of Czechoslovakia. He had also dined numerous times with Hans Ledwinka. After one of these dinners Hitler remarked to Porsche, "This is the car for my roads". Tatra produced the V570 which was coined with the words 'Peoples Car'. Porsche admitted "Well, sometimes I looked over his shoulder and sometimes he looked over mine" while designing the Volkswagen. Tatra launched a lawsuit prior to the second world war after Porsche's development of the 'Beetle', but this was stopped when Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. Tatra, who had started production of the T97 in 1936, was forced to stop producing the T97 when the Nazis took over the running of the factory. The matter was re-opened after World War II and, in 1961, Volkswagen paid Ringhoffer-Tatra 3,000,000 Deutsche Marks in an out of court settlement.